The top scoring link of today is a self post sparking a discussion of internet privacy and copyright legislation. The post calls for people to use their democratic power to repeal the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), resist this and other standing laws limiting people’s use of the internet and mobilize as a community to stop laws like SOPA and CISPA from being passed.

As it touches on very current issues, it is not surprising that this link is ranking number one today. 687 redditors had responded at the time of reading, offering users’ opinions on how much regulation the government should be able to impose, plenty of analyses as to what the DMCA entails and its consequences. Users fall on both sides of the argument of whether the DMCA is necessary and useful, or outdated as the original post suggests. There is also lots of discussion about reforming the DMCA, what the alternatives would be and users opinions on how to deal with piracy and illegal behaviour online. All in all an interesting debate is set off by this link!

Today’s second most popular link is a story from The Washington Post reporting on Obama’s economic policies, particularly the Workforce Investment Act. The article reports on Obama’s claim that his fiscal policies would benefit all Americans, drawing a politically calculated contrast between him and the Republicans. Accusing his opponents of supporting the rich through tax breaks at the detriment of the less well-off, Obama is reported as saying “I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth”, interpreted as a direct dig at his competitor, Romney. The article covers the Republicans critical response to this attack, accusing him of deliberately misrepresenting their economic policies and of creating a stagnant economy.

With 2871 comments there was a large and varied response to this early start of political wrangling between the two parties. Amongst the topics covered – there are too many to examine them all – there is a discussion of political engagement, or the absence of, on the part of the American people, and how this can be put down to a lack of empowerment. Some commentators discuss the argument brought up that the American populace have no true democratic power. There is a lot of commentary on the current taxation system, mostly in a critical context, and Romney is roundly abused here. There is a big debate amongst redditors about socialism, socialized democracy, and what the terms ‘socialism’ and ‘communism’ mean in the US as opposed to Europe. A lot of interaction amongst users is inspired by this link, stimulating a wide range of debates and discussions.

Coming in third place today is a self post attempting to get people to sign a petition to turn Election Day in the US into a national holiday, in order to increase voter turnout and, as the contributor puts it, to celebrate America’s right to vote by using their electoral power.

Many of the 387 comments point out either that this has been tried in other countries (and US states) and failed, or cite evidence making the same point, that as a tactic to improve voter turnout, it apparently doesn’t work. Others discuss different techniques that have been or could be used to try and get more people to vote. Interestingly, despite the fact this link has been upvoted 4736 times to make it third most popular today, only 619 people have signed the petition.